Iraqi monk Najib Michael has shared the story of how he saved ancient manuscripts from ISIL, including manuscripts in Armenian. According to Lebanon’s The Daily Star, the shots were fired above the monk’s head and the black flag of ISIL was seen nearby, but the only thing that the monk was thinking about was saving the hundreds of Iraqi manuscripts, reports News.am.

When the unrest began in 2008, Michael managed to transfer the books of the precious library from Mosul to Baghdad, which is the largest Christian city in Iraq. Last year, the monk felt the danger once again, and ISIL seized Iraqi and Syrian cities, eradicating precious museums and monuments, as well as the documents of libraries.

When ISIL seized the ancient city of Palmira on Thursday and presented the danger of more destruction, in Paris Michael shared the story of how he was obsessed with the idea of saving the remains of Iraq’s 2,000-year-old Christian heritage.

Najib Michael’s collection includes historical and philosophical works, documents of Muslims and Christians, as well as notes about music and literature in Armenian, Arame, Arabic and Assyrian.